Paperless-ngx vs SiYuan
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Paperless-ngx with
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Compare SiYuan with
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Feature Paperless-ngx SiYuan Category E-books & Media Library Notes & Knowledge Base License GPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Python TypeScript Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 2,048 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 44,077 ★ 45,670 First released 2022 2020 Replaces Evernote, DEVONthink Notion, Evernote
Why pick each one
Choose SiYuan if… Powerful block-based model Works offline and self-hosted SiYuan details
Frequently asked questions Is Paperless-ngx or SiYuan better? Neither is universally better. SiYuan has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Paperless-ngx and SiYuan free and open-source? Yes. Paperless-ngx is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SiYuan under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Paperless-ngx and SiYuan with Docker? Paperless-ngx: yes. SiYuan: yes.